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Today, I will be looking more into a mental illness that I find particularly interesting: bipolar disorder. The term bipolar disorder makes me think of an episode of one of my favorite shows,Drop Dead Diva. In this particular episode, the law firm is defending a client whose husband was treated for bipolar disorder and the therapist got rid of the wrong personality. It is portrayed as a simple medical malpractice case but when you look at it deeper, it’s a lot more interesting than that. What would it be like to be two different people? Can the person suffering from this illness tell when they switch personalities? Does bipolar disorder necessarily mean that the patient has two personalities, or can it be more like depression, with really high highs and really low lows? Hopefully, I will be able to learn more about this topic today and answer some more of these questions that I have
The first cases of bipolar disorder date back to as early as 1st century Greece when Aretaeus of Cappadocia began to notice symptoms and link mania and depression together. Symptoms were commonly ignored in ancient times and further research was not continued until the 17th century when Robert Burton wrote a book entitled The Anatomy of Melancholy. This was the first step in identifying the growing problem that is depression and mental illness. The first “official” case of bipolar disorder was diagnosed in 1851 by Jean-Pierre Falret, a French psychiatrist, who wrote an article about people going through phases of severe depression and manic excitement.
The National Institute of Mental Health defines bipolar disorder as, “a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” From what this definition implies, bipolar disorder isn’t necessarily multiple personalities. It is intense mood swings, beyond what someone diagnosed with depression experiences. Upon further research, I discovered that someone who has multiple personalities would be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, rather than bipolar disorder.
Someone with bipolar disorder experiences symptoms in two different categories: manic and depressive. When someone is having a manic episode, they may feel very high or elated, have a lot of energy, or be more active than usual. When someone is having a depressive episode, they may feel very sad or hopeless, have decreased activity levels, have very little energy, or even have trouble concentrating. Someone with bipolar disorder tends to switch between these two categories of symptoms quite often and can almost seem to be “two different people.” This is where the confusion of multiple personalities comes from.
Bipolar disorder is classified into four different sections: bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, cyclothymic disorder, and other disorders that do not fall into the previous three categories. Each class has various levels of symptoms but all can be dangerous and should be treated by an experienced physician. People with bipolar I disorder have manic symptoms that last at least 7 days or require immediate hospital care. The hospital is a safe place where the patient can begin to recover. It is generally away from the stresses that may be making the symptoms worse. People with bipolar II disorder also have a depressive-manic pattern but not as severe as someone with bipolar I disorder. Cyclothymic disorder is diagnosed when someone has had periods of depressive and manic symptoms for at least 2 years. (1 year for children and teens)
There are four main factors that contribute to causing bipolar disorder: brain structure and functioning, genetics, and family history. Bipolar disorder is heavily influenced by family history and a child with a parent or grandparent with the illness is much more likely to develop it.
With advances in modern medicine and technology, bipolar disorder is now easily treated with medications and various therapy treatments. Doctors can prescribe mood stabilizers, antidepressants, or atypical antipsychotics. These can lessen the number and intensity of manic episodes and decrease the depressive phases.
Psychotherapy, also known as talk therapy, has also been proven to be very effective when treating bipolar disorder. It can give the patient skills to deal with the stress of bipolar disorder. Psychotherapy, along with prescribed medications, can lessen the symptoms of bipolar disorder dramatically.
Now that I’ve researched more about this topic, I can see that bipolar disorder is very different from what I thought it was. Commonly confused with multiple personality disorder, bipolar disorder is very different and requires a different approach in treatment
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